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Post by reed on Jul 14, 2016 17:42:30 GMT -5
I'm curious about other people's observations on crops that animals don't bother. Where I live between deer, rabbits, coons, chipmunks, squirrels and turkeys it simply isn't possible to grow much of anything without fences, traps, dogs, cats and firearms and still the loses are pretty bad. It seems like there are more and more of these opportunists all the time even though we have a pretty good population of owls, hawks and coyotes. I don't completely hate the deer, rabbits and especially turkeys as they can be quite tasty themselves. I don't like squirrel.
Anyway, I think I need to consolidate my gardens into smaller more fortified space but I'm pretty sure I can grow onions, garlic and potatoes outside the fortifications, so that will help to not have to reduce my total growing space. Do you all agree those crops are relatively safe from animals? Are there any other crops that could grow unprotected?
Any observations and advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by steev on Jul 14, 2016 18:56:50 GMT -5
Nopales and tuna (cactus pears); maguey for mescal and blue agave for pulque. To some extent, these can also serve as "fencing" around less formidable crops.
Could be worse; in place of your squirrels and chipmunks, I have pigs and elk.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 15, 2016 1:17:56 GMT -5
One of my fields has severe animal predation of crops (deer, turkeys, groundhogs, squirrels, coons, skunks, chupacabra, etc). Therefore, I grow only squash in that field. Sometimes a butternut squash gets a bite out of it, but for the most part, that field is left alone by the animals.
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Post by steev on Jul 15, 2016 1:38:47 GMT -5
Woah! Chupacabra predation really sucks.
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Post by reed on Jul 15, 2016 5:16:28 GMT -5
Wow! squash, that would really help if I could move the squash out in the open. I don't think agave would grow here and wouldn't know what to do with if it did. Prickly pear is an idea worth looking into, I bet the rabbits wouldn't like having to wade through that. If I could set up a perimeter of it and wild multiflora rose that might work. Both are easy to find here to transplant. Man, that sounds like a lot of work.
Chupacabra pressure is pretty manageable here but alien confiscation of fruits or whole plants is a persistent problem. You can tell it was them because whatever it was is just gone, no tracks, no damage to neighboring fruits or plants.
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Post by steev on Jul 15, 2016 10:34:44 GMT -5
Both roses and cactus are easy to grow from cuttings, so no need to transplant.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 15, 2016 10:42:06 GMT -5
Woah! Chupacabra predation really sucks. Chupacabras aren't too hard on the vegetable garden unless your local population happens to be vegan. |
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Post by rowan on Jul 15, 2016 11:18:18 GMT -5
Chupacabras aren't too hard on the vegetable garden unless your local population happens to be vegan. Yeah but have you seen those feet? They would do more damage to your beds than my kangaroos. |
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Post by blueadzuki on Jul 15, 2016 14:59:09 GMT -5
Chupacabras aren't too hard on the vegetable garden unless your local population happens to be vegan. Yeah but have you seen those feet? They would do more damage to your beds than my kangaroos. But less than a bunyip. |
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Post by mskrieger on Jul 15, 2016 15:39:49 GMT -5
Maybe it's a bunyip that I have. Compared to you all, I am really lucky--just the occasional bunny, squirrel and chipmunk for the most part, mostly deterred by my three-legged feline death squad. The raccoon population was utterly eliminated by a rabies outbreak a few years back, though I'm sure they'll come back...
HOWEVER. Something there is that has been coming into my garden in broad daylight and raging against my corn. A sunflower growing in the corn patch was taken down but it looks accidental...yet all the corn was bitten in half and thrown about. It happens while we're away at work. It looks ANGRY. Today it came back and took out the last intact corn plant. Not like that one was gonna set seed b/c there was no others to pollinate, but still
Bizarre.
Guess a bunyip would flatten more than the corn. Perhaps we're looking at ROUS damage. The cat knows when she's outmatched.
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Post by mskrieger on Jul 15, 2016 16:24:36 GMT -5
More seriously, I should comment on what Joseph Lofthouse said about squash not needing protection. In my experience, if you have rats, squash are not safe from predation unless they have very hard shells (like Hubbards, for example.) When I lived in DC, almost every squash I harvested had been gnawed on at least a little. In more rural New England, some critters (ground hogs, maybe?) eat into softer-shelled squash from the bottom. Nothing, not even deer, seems to bother hard shelled Hubbards, which may account for their popularity. And yes, I'd agree most of the alliums and potatoes suffer no animal-related losses in my gardens. Nothing much ever touches my eggplants either, come to think of it. |
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Post by steev on Jul 15, 2016 19:42:14 GMT -5
Gophers go fer my spuds and alliums. Hornworms graze on spud plants.
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jocundi
gopher
Tinkering with fruits and veggies in Eastern Boreal Forest on Canadian Shield.
Posts: 28 
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Post by jocundi on Jul 16, 2016 5:47:32 GMT -5
My potato patch that was not protected and located further from the house had all the flowers chopped off as soon as they were about to open. It was deer. Those flowers must be tasty.
Can someone comment on what veggies are most susceptible to damage? For me it's peas and favas. Plants are chopped off as if with a scythe, but not eaten.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jul 16, 2016 9:24:12 GMT -5
I think generally i have more problems with bugs than with animals. One crop that is hard to grow with the climate and the animals is corn. My corn is affected by drought usually, attacked by Western Corn Rootworm Beetles, Cutworms, Thrashed to shreds by Raccoons, and broken by Squirrels in years when food is scarce (ie. no apples or peaches). Same goes for Teosinte when it comes to Raccoons and squirrels. Apparently they don't smell for ripe corn, they just use their eyes and tear down anything that looks like it should have a cob of corn on it (*shakes fist angrily*). The cutworms can affect anything from corn to beans to tomatoes i guess.
Last year i had a watermelon eaten by a raccoon, but that was because it got overripe. The Squash had either a raccoon or cat claw marks and was moved a foot, but they couldn't eat it. Peas are generally unaffected except by bugs once the pods are dryish and low-fibre. Perhaps the occasional rabbit nibble, but usually there is plenty of field bindweed, so that is their favorite food, and there is plenty of grass. Just don't plant cauliflower here because they go nuts for that! Beans usually unaffected, but i think deer would like beans early in the season if they knew they were there.
Mint, catnip, rosemary, etc seem unaffected. I would think planting mint or another similar family next to something that usually gets eaten might help to deter animals as i suspect they don't like those kind of smells.
Caught a raccoon sleeping in the grapevine once. Not that the grapevine was that affected or overly picked over, i just don't like raccoons after planting corn so often (*shakes fist angrily again for good measure*). Black bears like the grapevine too, but they have never been a problem.
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Post by reed on Jul 16, 2016 14:48:21 GMT -5
Mint, catnip, rosemary, etc seem unaffected. I would think planting mint or another similar family next to something that usually gets eaten might help to deter animals as i suspect they don't like those kind of smells. That sounds like a good idea and easy to implement although mint especially can easily become a weed. I always put marigolds with beans and it seems to help with bean beetles. Actually hiding things in weeds is one of the most effective strategies I know of but of course it has some drawbacks. However some harvest from scrawny plants is better than no harvest from healthy ones and no harvest is what I would get from most of the things you mentioned if grown unprotected. I think we have more critters than a lot of places. Would love to catch a coon sleeping. It would ease the fragment of conscience I have left regarding them, knowing it died in it's sleep. |
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